Helping address the national research and research capacity needs of Australian chiropractic: introducing the Australian Chiropractic Research Network (ACORN) project

Abstract

Chiropractic is a popular health care choice in Australia and yet major gaps in our empirical understanding of this area of practice remain. Furthermore, while some research excellence exists, a largely uncoordinated approach to research activity and development has in effect led to silos of interest and a lack of strategic ‘big-picture’ planning essential to producing a sustainable research culture and capacity for the profession. This commentary identifies the significance of a number of key features - including a national, coordinated focus, and a rich engagement with the practitioner and patient base amongst others – arguably important to the future development of research and research capacity within Australian chiropractic. The design features and phases of the Australian Chiropractic Research Network (ACORN) project are also outlined. ACORN is one contemporary initiative specifically developed to address chiropractic’s research and research capacity building needs and help grow a broad evidence-base to inform safe, effective patient care.

A workforce survey of Australian chiropractic: the profile and practice features of a nationally representative sample of 2,005 chiropractors

“…As part of the recruitment for the ACORN PBRN a 21-item practitioner questionnaire was distributed to all registered chiropractors across Australia [18]. While completion of the practitioner questionnaire was a prerequisite for inclusion in the ACORN PBRN database (Of the 2,005 participants reported in this paper 1,680 chiropractors also consented to be included in the ACORN PBRN practitioner database, i.e.…”

Introducing national osteopathy practice-based research networks in Australia and New Zealand: an overview to inform future osteopathic research

“…As such, each PBRN (both independently and when considered in combination) holds much potential to significantly advance the evidence-base and research capacity of and within osteopathy on a global scale. Many PBRNs (across many professions/areas of health care practice and geographical locations) draw upon 'big data' study designs (registry model) -whereby initial data collection is focused on establishing a centralized, coordinated patient record management system 31 -limiting the ability to develop further projects sensitive to different clinical settings/circumstances or the evolving needs of grass-roots practitioners and the wider profession [32][33][34] . In contrast, for both the ORION and ORC-NZ PBRN a sub-study model was employed -a design successfully founded and employed in other Australian PBRNs 29,30 .…”

Establishing the ACORN National Practitioner Database: Strategies to Recruit Practitioners to a National Practice-Based Research Network

“…To date, research on chiropractic in Australia and elsewhere has been largely fragmented and uncoordinated and there has been a lack of strategic "big-picture" planning. 1 In response to these circumstances, the Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCCIM) at the University of Technology Sydney-a research-intensive center subjecting complementary health care to rigorous examination using critical public health and health services research designs and methods-conceived and developed the Australian Chiropractic Research Network (ACORN) practice-based research network (PBRN) project, with the financial support of the Chiropractors' Association of Australia (CAA), aimed at helping grow a sustainable research culture for the profession.…”

“…For a more detailed overview of the ACORN project design and project please, see a previous publication. 1 Although PBRNs often share some core features, they nevertheless manifest in many different ways. 6,7 The ACORN project is built around a particular PBRN approach and design-a sub-study model.…”